


Unfamiliar Souls

by fanwit



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 14:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17489429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanwit/pseuds/fanwit
Summary: Moody doesn't understand his soulmark.





	Unfamiliar Souls

**Author's Note:**

> Titles? Hard. This thing was in my drafts for the longest time because I couldn't think of a title and all the titles I could think of was just too pretentious and vague even for me.

Alastor had always been puzzled by the exact meaning of his soulmark. Two lines top and bottom, one in simple English: Nice to meet you, and the other in something he didn't understand. It seemed completely foreign but Alastor couldn't find a single language with the same odd shapes. His best guess was that the odd line was the same as the English line. He had seen some people with similar soulmarks only with the top line being in French, Russian, Chinese, honest languages they all recognized.

"Nice to meet you" was said so often it was useless to Alastor. Pretty much everyone on his floor had said it to him when they first met, even Arthur Weasley. He seriously considered just showing his soulmark and hoping someone would react to the top line but he didn't want to reveal that much. Especially not after his parents. 

Admittedly, he was half hoping it was Arthur Weasley. He seemed to know a lot of languages despite his claim he knew pretty much nothing but English. It wasn't far fetched to assume his native language might not be English, he barely spoke of his childhood and his family. Now, Alastor wasn't about to accuse Arthur of not being a British citizen born and bred but he did find it strange.

Arthur had a lot of things around him that just didn't add up. There was no record of Arthur going to Hogwarts, nothing about detentions, and his classmates at the time didn't remember seeing Arthur before fifth year. When Alastor asked Arthur about his time at Hogwarts, he just brushed it off as the typical wallflower occurrence. It was true that Arthur had an odd ability to just not be noticed sometimes, Alastor had assumed it was because Arthur was so quiet. But the Sorting Hat had no memory of Arthur either. Alastor wasn't sure whether to be concerned that a student could just start attending out of nowhere without modifying any memories or that Arthur just appeared out of nowhere. Alastor had asked Arthur's family but they all weren't forthcoming with anything.

"So, when is his birthday?"

"Hm, you know... Every year."

"Cedrella, he was your first kid, right? Anything interesting happen during your pregnancy?"

"Not really."

"Septimus, father-son bonding time, am I right?"

"Yeah."

"Do anything?"

"Yeah."

"Bilius, I never had any older siblings. Heard older siblings were a pain."

"Arthur was fine."

"Madoc? How was Arthur for you growing up?"

"Fine."

Just. Not. Forthcoming.

Even if Arthur wasn't Alastor's soulmate, Alastor still found Arthur intriguing. How did one just come out of nowhere and do absolutely nothing to change anyone's memories and still have everyone insist on it being normal? Molly had admitted she didn't remember ever noticing Arthur before fifth year but she remembered his siblings. She also said Arthur had been so peculiar, so interested with Muggles, and she had just fallen in love with him. Alastor had left quickly before Molly could go in any further details about how much she loved Arthur. He wasn't about to put up with that if Arthur was his soulmate.

An easy cover, if someone stopped to think about it. Anything strange that Arthur did could be just brushed off as a Muggle thing or part of his obsession with Muggles. Arthur was already viewed as odd after all, no harm could be done to his reputation.

Now, the issue were Arthur's kids. If Arthur was really an alien or something else, then wouldn't his kids show some signs of that? They all had the proper look: red hair, human-looking skin, human-shaped eyes, right ears and absolutely nothing alien-like. So Alastor had prodded and prodded until it came out Molly and Arthur weren't _exactly_ soulmates and they had just found it easier to keep pretending they were hopelessly in love. Arthur had blushed and cleared his throat when Alastor asked if it was Arthur that had the kids. Bilius, a year younger, was actually the father. Not Molly's soulmate but they had a nice relationship while it lasted.

Which meant Arthur was very much free in who his soulmate could be. However, one little problem was that he just didn't have a soulmark.

"You sure? It could be somewhere you can't see."

"Trust me, I know."

Alastor was still going to date Arthur anyway, he was fairly certain soulmates could be met half-way anyway. One way he could check was if Arthur touched his soulmark but he didn't really want confirmation on that. He didn't want to be wrong. Arthur was a bit slow in catching on to Alastor's interest unfortunately.

"We could go to that new restaurant, they have a discount right now."

"Isn't the discount only for dates? I think Molly's making meatballs anyway, you can come if you really want a free dinner that bad."

It was the alien invasion that finally solved everything.

Perkins came in and told them of the spaceships that had landed in the Atrium. He said a lot of people disappeared, including Arthur. Most just brushed it off as a Misuser's odd sense of humor but Alastor went straight for the lifts. When he stepped off to the floor, it was blocked off by Unspeakables. 

Alastor ended up convincing an Unspeakable to look the other way and acknowledging he was entering at his own risk and that his inevitable death would be covered up. Unspeakables were far too uptight about rules.

The spaceships did look like the spaceships in the movies but Alastor had a sense it was just because they _were_ trying to look like the spaceships in the movies. One ship even had a drawing of the pointy-eared alien from one of Arthur's shows.

The biggest ship had a very familiar marking. The same odd circles, the same tally marks, the same everything as the first line of his soulmark. The aliens hurrying through the open door were huge, Alastor realized. Much much bigger than him. _Well._ Alastor took a deep breath. _Nothing to lose._

He strode out towards the aliens and one of them held out a weapon. Alastor found himself waking up in a surprisingly comfortable chair. A huge green alien stood in front of him. They had no eyes Alastor could look at. He simply focused on the top of the alien and hoped that was fine.

They said something but Alastor just shook his head. He couldn't understand. The alien reached down with their lumpy gelatin-like arm and pressed a button on their belt.

Alastor closed his eyes. He could hear a quiet rumbling. It was the spaceship, he realized, they had left.

"What are you doing?" said a very rusty voice. Alastor opened his eyes and looked at the alien in front of him. The alien seemed to cock their head. "Why have you come after us?"

_How are you talking in English? What is your name? Where's the missing people? Why did you take them? Is Arthur also an alien? Is he with you?_

"Did you leave?" Alastor just asked despite his countless questions. Best to start small.

"We are orbiting right now," the alien responded. The voice was very hissy and seemed to struggle to enunciate. "Apologies for the translator, haven't taken it in for repairs."

 _Translator?_ Alastor looked at the belt and focused his glass eye on it. He could make out a round radio-like shape, near the button the alien had pressed.

"It's fine, I can still hear you," Alastor said reassuringly. "Ah, what's your name?"

"I am..." Then the translator did not translate anything the alien said and Alastor didn't think he could replicate the alien's name.

"Hm, guess I should try to learn the language before saying anyone's names."

"That would be an excellent idea."

"Why have you taken some of the people?"

"You still haven't answered my questions, I think it's fair you answer some."

What had been the questions? Something about why Alastor had gone after them, was it?

"I... was trying to get on the spaceship." Alastor hoped that was the right answer.

"Why?"

He was curious. He was worried about Arthur. He was.. He wanted to follow Arthur.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Alastor admitted. "In hindsight, I probably should've at least asked to talk to one of you."

"What's your name?"

Arthur never mentioned him. It was in that moment Alastor had the thought hit him. He could be wrong about the aliens. Yes, the alien with the name he couldn't say had been relatively nice thus far but it could go downhill at any moment.

"I..." Alastor hesitated.

"We took the aliens," the alien said. They leaned forward. This seemed to be an attempt to comfort Alastor.

"But they had lives here!" Alastor looked up desperately at the alien. "But they had people who cared about them!"

"They knew the risks coming in," the alien said. "It was a research project. They knew they would be leaving."

And Arthur hadn't said goodbye. Arthur hadn't given any indications at all that he knew he was leaving.

"Did they know the timing?"

"No."

Arthur didn't know, thank god. Alastor let his shoulders fall in relief. Arthur did care, he just hadn't gotten any warning he was leaving so soon.

"You seem to have a person you care about. Is that why you were trying to get on the ship?"

"Is Arthur here?"

"You best forget about your person," the alien said sadly. "It is unlikely we will choose to return." 

That was why they were orbiting, Alastor realized. They planned to drop Alastor off as soon as they figured out his intentions and leave.

"No." Alastor glared at the alien. The alien cocked their head to the other side and their body seemed to tighten. "No, that isn't fair."

"Fair?"

"Don't you have soulmates?"

"What do soulmates have to do with anything?" The alien brought up their very much blank arms. The green gelatin-like skin shook with the sudden movement. Alastor was reminded of Jell-o.

Alastor slowly pulled up his sleeve.

The alien stepped back and brought their arm down to the left side of the belt. The doors slid open and they spun around with no further words. They left and Alastor was alone in the room that seemed to be intended as a lounge. Alastor pushed down his sleeve.

He had never shown his soulmark to anyone. Not after how his parents had reacted to the first line. They had shouted and told Alastor to keep it covered up. It was not a language they recognized and they were scared of what it meant. Sometimes Alastor had heard his father mumble something about monsters and freaks. He had learnt from that, he knew to never show his soulmark even if there was a chance someone could recognize the language.

The doors slid open and an alien stepped in. It was not the same alien as before. The alien strode across the room and stopped in front of Alastor. They cocked their head.

They said something. The words seemed to bounce and do twirls. Alastor's heart pounded faster. _Nice to meet you, nice to meet you,_ Alastor thought.

Their stance was so human-like and their arms seemed to be looking for a wand holster to rest on. The alien cocked their head in the other direction, seemingly waiting for Alastor to say something.

"Arthur?" Alastor managed.

"Alastor," the alien said. It sounded so much like Arthur, as much as it could coming out of a completely different body. Alastor tried to push himself out of the chair but found the chair seemed to be pushing down on him. _Arthur_ brought his arms around Alastor's shoulders and christ, it was so weird. It felt almost like Arthur was melting on him but it was slowly solidifying. It was lukewarm to the touch and Alastor found himself slowly standing up. Arthur ran his arms down to Alastor's hips and Alastor shuddered at the sensation. It shouldn't have felt that good.

"So you're an alien." Alastor looked up at where Arthur's eyes would've been. There was nothing but greenness.

"Yeah," Arthur whispered. It sounded like it was hard to say that. Could the aliens even speak English? Alastor didn't know how their throats worked. It didn't look like they had throats. Arthur brought his right arm off Alastor's hip and Alastor let out a little whine at the sudden loss of pressure. There was a click and Arthur brought his arm back.

"I don't mind." Alastor slowly put his arms on Arthur's... body? He wasn't sure what to call the very much flat body, there were no curves whatsoever and nothing remotely identifiable as human-shaped.

"Heard you were looking for me." Arthur's translator seemed to be in a much better shape than the previous alien's. The words came out smoothly and so much like Arthur's voice it was actually disconcerting. Alastor wondered if Arthur had modified it to fit his old human voice.

"I wanted to make sure you were fine."

"Boss is very busy now thanks to you."

"Because of sneaking on the ship?"

"Because of the whole soulmark thing." Arthur sighed. "We don't have that, it's a Earth concept, and none of us ever thought anybody would be..." Arthur didn't finish the sentence.

Nobody thought a human would have an alien as a soulmate. God, Alastor was always so different. Why did it happen to him? Arthur shuffled a bit closer and the sensation of him was actually comforting. _He's like a weight blanket,_ Alastor realized.

"A few of the aliens actually have a soulmate apparently," Arthur said. "We didn't have any way to communicate with main until they came so nobody could tell them about the connections until now."

 _I'm not alone?_ Alastor leaned forward with a sob and ended up face-first into what would've been Arthur's shoulder. It was like putting his head in snow, only warm. The gelatin-like body wasn't as pliable as it looked. There were some hard flakes, almost like _sand_.

"Am..." Arthur began but went quiet. Alastor didn't lean back but tightened his grip around Arthur. He could feel a bit of Arthur's body going over his arms. Arthur took a shaky breath. "Am I your soulmate?"

All that time just hoping he was right. All Alastor ever had was hope Arthur was an alien and was his soulmate. Now... Alastor stepped back from Arthur. He slowly rolled up his sleeve and held it out for Arthur to touch.

Arthur didn't move right away, he just stared at Alastor's arm. "Nice to meet you," he said. It was a bad soulmark, Alastor knew. So generic, so common that Alastor had stopped jumping at every time they said it, stopped waiting for their eyes to widen and realize he had just said their soulmark. 

"Nice to meet you," Arthur said again. He slowly raised his arm and touched the first drawing of the first line. It turned gold. Alastor was right, he was right. Arthur sounded out the first syllable and Alastor recognized it as the beginning of what Arthur first said when he came in. Alastor brought down his arm and threw himself around Arthur.

"I had hoped..." Alastor said quietly and Arthur brought an arm around his head. Then Alastor found himself being engulfed halfway into Arthur's body. He didn't mind. Arthur was warm and Alastor never felt this loved before.

The aliens were returned to their positions in the Ministry and nothing further were said on their mysterious disappearance and reappearance. The wizards knew best to not ask questions they didn't want to know the answers to. Arthur and Alastor ended up moving a bit out of the suburbs because Arthur wanted to keep his chickens and Alastor's neighbours did not like that idea.

They were watching a show Alastor couldn't remember the name of and Arthur was talking about the similarities between the first officer and his friend, a captain of a ship, when he suddenly went quiet.

"Do you miss your friends?" Alastor asked.

"We write." Arthur was still looking at him oddly. "Alastor."

"Arthur." Alastor didn't know what else to say.

"Thank you."

"What for?"

"They would've never allowed me to bring the chickens along," is all Arthur said. Alastor leaned into him. They could say Arthur was talking about the old neighbours but Alastor knew otherwise. Arthur would've missed everything about Earth.

"I would've missed you too."

"Thanks."

They turned back to watching the show.

**Author's Note:**

> [Check out this aesthetic someone made for this fic!](https://fanwit.tumblr.com/post/186083087654/belledxct-it-was-the-alien-invasion-that-finally)


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